


A Rebel In Disguise

by Underthenarniansun



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, percy jackson - Fandom
Genre: Eventual Smut, Gay, High School AU, M/M, Minor Character Death, Musicals, PJO, Pippin - Freeform, Suicide mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 02:55:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 17,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4043119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Underthenarniansun/pseuds/Underthenarniansun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy has transferred high schools again and Jason has been tasked with showing him around. In the beginning, Jason hates Percy, but things have a funny way of changing. (The title comes from the song Oceans by Coasts)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Percy's First Day

Honestly, at this point Percy should've been used to moving. Especially considering how many schools he'd gotten himself kicked out of. But, this time was different. This time, surprisingly, it wasn't his fault that they were moving. His mom and Smelly Gabe had finally divorced, so Percy and Sally had had to pick up and move, which sent Percy to a new high school in the middle of his junior year. 

Percy was almost late for his first day because he had slept in and then thrown on whatever, but when he came out of his room, his mother had scolded him, telling him that he should wear something nicer to help him make a good impression, so he had gone back into his room and put on his least messy pair of jeans and spent a whole five minutes searching for a shirt that wasn't wrinkled. Finally, he earned his mother's approval and she sent him off to nearly miss the bus with a smile and a hug, which helped calm his nerves a bit.

The other kids on his bus stared at him as he got on. It hadn't helped that the bus had almost left without him and he had had to start waving his arms to get the driver's attention and had probably looked crazy. He walked to the back of the bus and found an empty seat where he slumped down and tried to keep from drawing attention to himself, but it didn't work. Everybody was too curious about the strange new kid to just mind their own business, which made for an awkward bus ride. He really hoped that his day would get better. And as he went to the office to pick up his schedule and talked with one of the student office-assistants, it seemed like it would. The girl in the office helping out was pretty, with dark hair and tanned skin. Percy had talked with her for at least ten minutes and he still couldn't decide what color her eyes were. She told him that her name was Piper and helped him find his schedule while she explained that someone would be down soon to show him where to go. She was nice and funny and they got along and Percy had started to cheer up, thinking that maybe this school wouldn't be too bad.

At least, until Jason Grace showed up.

 

 

Jason was a straight A student. He was destined to be on the honor roll for the rest of his life. He was president of student counsel, was going to be head of NHS next year, and it was speculated that he would be valedictorian. In short, he was a good kid. So, it was a huge surprise to everyone when he got called down to the main office. Jason felt his face getting warm, and snickers came from others in the class. He walked out of the classroom, wracking his brain for something he had done wrong lately, but the only thing he could think of was how he went to the bathroom without a hall pass. When he got down there the principal was smiling. She shook his hand and asked him if he would mind showing the school's new student around, and he felt silly for thinking he would get in trouble for not having a hall pass. He, of course, agreed. He wasn't sure what he was expecting. He wasn't expecting anyone too troubling for sure. He was absolutely had not been expecting Percy Jackson.

The principal's smile grew, and she thanked him, giving a "Oh, what would I do without you," that he had heard so many times. He didn't mind it though. She told him that the new students name was Percy, and pointed Jason in his direction. He saw that Percy was talking to Piper- that was usually a good sign. Oh boy, was he wrong. He walked up to them, nodding at Piper in greeting. He extended his hand to Percy. "Hi, you must be the new student. I'm Jason Grace, I'll be your tour guide today." He offered Percy a winning smile.

 

 

Percy didn't get this guy. He seemed to hate Percy already. He had no idea what he'd done to tick this guy off. The "tour" started off pretty well. Jason had seemed nice, if a little serious. But his demeanor quickly changed. He seemed aggravated that Percy didn't already know everything. Like everything Percy asked was the dumbest question he had ever heard. It just seemed like everything he said annoyed him.

"How long is lunch?" He asked. He didn't see how that question could offend someone, but Jason still looked like Percy had just insulted his mother when he replied "25 minutes."

"Cool. Do you guys have a swim team?"

"You have to hold at least a C average to participate on a sports team." Jason told him, as if that was answer enough.

Percy, quite frankly, felt insulted at that. 

"I can keep up a C average." Percy muttered to himself.

Jason just rolled his eyes and pointed out the science hall, listing off the different science courses available. Percy honestly couldn't care less.


	2. When Percy Has a Realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to those of you who have commented already! Please keep the comments coming, I love to read them!

By the end of the day, Jason was furious with the fact that Percy was in three of his classes. How he had been placed in honors classes when he had seemed astoundingly brainless earlier was something Jason couldn't even guess at. But that didn't change the fact that Jason now shared his chemistry class, his western civ. class, and gym. Well, gym was obviously not an honors class, but it annoyed Jason that they had the class together nonetheless.

What increasingly had not helped matters was the fact that simply because Jason was helping Percy find his way on his first day that his teachers had decided to partner them up. He and Percy would now be lab partners for the whole year and Jason had been informed that Percy would be on his basketball team for the last week of the unit. Thankfully the next unit was swimming and that required no partner or team work. 

But before Jason even had to worry about gym, 3rd hour, he had to get through chemistry with Percy Jackson. A task which was far more difficult to accomplish than one would think.

"What's an acetate?" Percy whispered to Jason.

"It's the word for acid. It's written right here already Percy." Jason responded, already exasperated. 

"Wait, what kind of compound is hydrochloric acid?" Percy asked.

"Percy, we have a lab in two days. Please figure this stuff out." Jason muttered.

"I'm trying to. That's why I'm asking you." Percy smirked at him.

"Ionic." Jason sighed.

"Thanks dude." Percy replied, writing it in his notes. 

 

Percy still couldn't understand what this guy's deal was. And that made him feel like more of an idiot than usual. Jason Grace seemed to genuinely hate him. Typically Percy wouldn't have been able to care less about someone hating him, but somehow it bothered him with it being Jason. With an uneasy feeling he chalked it up to the fact that Jason was the first person he had officially met here and that he felt like he needed a new friend, especially who was smart enough to help him in his classes.

That had him thinking about his best friend from his old school, Annabeth. Percy had gone to his old school longer than the usual length of time he got to stay put and he and Annabeth had become really good friends. She had a stubbornness and an intellectual talent that made it impossible for Percy to be allowed to fail any of his classes. And she had been easy to talk to. People had mistaken them for a couple quite often, and they most likely would have been if Percy weren't gay as hell.  
Absolutely no one, besides Annabeth knew though. If word got out that Percy was gay, he wouldn't be allowed to be on the swim team. There wasn't a rule against it or anything, but the other guys on the team wouldn't have put up with it. Even if Percy was their best member.

Basketball, however, was a completely different story.

"Percy, are you even awake right now?" Jason shouted as Percy missed yet another shot.

"Jason, hey, go easy on him, man. Not everyone is as gifted as us." A shorter boy with ridiculously curly hair, who was not that great at basketball either, defended Percy.

"Leo, shut up. You suck too." Jason retorted.

"Well, yeah, but my unbelievable good looks do help to distract the other team."

"And some of our team," Jason smirked, "Right Nico?" He shouted to another boy on the team.

"Fuck you, Grace." Nico yelled back. "Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'm desperate enough to go for Valdez." He said, at a lower volume.

"Nico! You've wounded my pride! Your rejection hurts my very soul! The pain!" Leo was being quite theatrical now, clutching at his heart, he fell to his knees. "The pain! How shall I go on?"

Percy was extraordinarily confused, but Jason, Nico, and the other guys on the team looked at each other as if this sort of thing happened a lot.

Leo then stood up and bowed. Nico clapped, looking quite entertained.

Jason rolled his eyes and looked like he was about to say something, but then the dress bell rang, signaling that they all needed to head to the locker rooms. So they all headed to go change while Percy followed absentmindedly, stuck thinking about how Nico was openly gay. And how he and Jason were friends. And how Jason seemed okay with it. And how Percy found himself dreading having to go change because his locker was right by Jason's and Percy was finding that perhaps he had a crush on Jason Grace. He, he decided with finality, was screwed.


	3. When Jason Admits It To Himself

The locker room sucked. Percy was entirely convinced that it had been developed as a method to torture gay guys. It was simply unethical that he had to be confronted with a shirtless Jason before noon.

Percy mentally shook himself, he really could not get caught staring. Jason already strongly disliked him and if he found out that Percy was suddenly finding himself extremely attracted to the blond it definitely would not make things better.

Percy indulged in approximately three seconds of eyeing up Jason's tan skin and muscled physique. Then he shook his head and got back to changing, blushing terribly. He was, however, grateful that the blood in his body had risen to his face rather than gone somewhere else that was more incriminating.

With an impending sense of doom, Percy remembered that swimming unit was next week and the thought of Jason in their practically European style mandatory gym swimsuits was enough that Percy had to quite hurriedly start thinking of his grandmother in order to avoid being mortally embarrassed. 

He finished changing and all but ran out of the locker room. He was screwed. He made up his mind right there and then to call Annabeth after school.

 

 

After gym, Jason's day was uneventful. But he still had his history class with Percy left as his last class. He trudged from Latin over to the history wing, thinking about the conversation he had had at lunch.

"I thought he was sweet. Why don't you like him?" Piper had said.

"He just seems like an idiot. Like one of those dumb jocks who think they can get by on just good looks and the fact that they play a sport."

"Did you just say that he's good looking?" Reyna asked him.

Jason felt caught, but Leo saved him by saying, "Come on Rara, none of us are blind, of course he's attractive. Right Nico?" He finishes as Nico sat down with his tray.

"New kid? Hell yeah. He's hot. If I weren't dating Will then I'd definitely go for it." Nico affirmed.

"He's not even gay though, man." Leo said.

"You don't know that. Besides, did you guys think I was gay before I came out?" Nico rebutted. 

"Anyways," Piper interjected, before Leo could answer, "the point is that Jason should be nicer to him. Let's leave his sexuality out of this."

"Fine," Leo had mumbled, "but I'm not even sold on Jason being straight."

Nico had nodded, Reyna had bit back a laugh, and Jason had pretended not to hear.

Now he went to sit next to Reyna and Piper in his Western Civilization class. He greeted them both amicably and then got his notes out of his backpack, ready to continue taking more today. Then Piper did something that Jason could've killed her for. She called Percy over.

"Percy! Hey! Come sit with us!" She called to him as he entered the classroom.

He looked over, looking semi-apprehensive when he saw Jason there too, but came over anyways.

"Hey Piper." He said, sitting down next to her and behind Reyna. 

"Hi Percy!" Piper greeted him, "this is Reyna. And of course you know Jason."

Percy and Reyna smile at each other, Percy looking quite nervous, but after a few moments he and Reyna started a conversation about how Percy was liking the new school and Jason and Piper had a silent conversation that went something like "Really Piper? Why'd you invite him over here?"

"Geez Jason, calm down. He's sweet. Besides, I know you think he's cute."

"I do not."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"Yeah, but don't tell anyone."

"I won't. Now talk to him. And be nice. Maybe he's gay too"

Jason and Piper had silent conversations like this a lot, they had known each other for so long that they could practically read each other's mind. Jason had never actually told Piper that he was gay, she had just known. And, as far as he was aware, she was the only one who knew, although his other friends definitely had their suspicions.

Actually, he corrected hisself. Thalia knew too. Thalia was his older sister. Just before she left for college earlier this year, she had pulled Jason aside and told him that he "wasn't the only gay one in the family".

Jason grudgingly admitted to himself that Piper was right, that he really should be nicer to Percy. It really wasn't his fault that he was attractive. 

"So," Jason said, turning around to face a surprised looking Percy, "how's your first official day going?"

"Not too bad," Percy replied, "I managed to find people to sit with at lunch and haven't gotten too lost."

Jason was about to reply when their teacher walked in. 

Or rather rolled in, as Mr. Brunner was in a wheelchair. 

Mr. Brunner got right to business and started teaching right away. The rest of class genuinely surprised Jason, not because he didn't know the material, but because Percy did. He raised his hand to answer almost every question and by the end of class Mr. Brunner seemed very impressed. Percy had answered questions that even Jason hadn't known the answer to.

By the end of class Jason was slightly annoyed to find that he thought that Percy was even more attractive than he had previously admitted to.

He was so screwed.


	4. When Annabeth Comes Into the Story

Percy was relieved as Annabeth picked up her phone on the second ring.

"Hey Perce, what's up?"

"You have to help me." Percy deadpanned.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth said, and Percy could hear the worry in her voice.

"I have a crush on someone."

"Are you kidding Percy? That's it?"

"Well, yeah."

Annabeth sighed. "Okay, give me the details. Why do you need help?"

"His name is Jason. He's in our year. He's almost as smart as you. And he's gorgeous."

"So, what's the problem?"

"He's almost definitely straight and up until my last class today I was convinced that he hates me."

"What happened in your last class?"

"I don't know, he talked to me and he was kind of nice."

"Well, that's a good sign."

"Yeah, but I need to get this under control." Percy lowered his voice, "He's in my gym class and we have swim unit next week."

Annabeth laughed, "Okay, yeah. You do need help."

"Tell me about it," Percy sighed.

 

Jason thought that he could escape before Piper confronted him, but he was wrong. Somehow she was at his locker before he got there, even though he had had a good head start. He still had no clue how she did that.

"Hey Pipes," he said wearily, already sure of what was coming.

"Jason, you're coming over to my house today." Piper told him.

"I am?" Jason knew he was.

"Yes, and Reyna's going to be there too. You need to tell her."

"Wait, why?"

"Because she needs to know so we can set you up with Percy. Duh."

"Piper, this is ridiculous. We don't even know if he's gay and-"

"Jason, please. If anyone can figure it out, it's me and Reyna."

Jason had to admit that she was right. The two girls worked together more effectively than anything he'd ever seen. The thought of telling Reyna though was unappealing. He'd gotten so used to hiding it that straight up, or maybe not straight up, telling someone seemed wrong. Somehow Piper had read him, like she always did. She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, it's not like they don't all suspect anyways. Jace, we've known you too long, you can't hide anything from us."

And, as much as Jason wished she wasn't, she was right. So, he followed her to Reyna's locker and then to Piper's house.

 

Percy felt a little better. Annabeth had decided that she would make the drive to visit him this weekend and they could hang out and talk more about the whole Jason thing. Now he just needed to make it through the next two days without doing anything too stupid.

Knowing himself, that would be difficult.

Percy decided to just get a start on his homework, so that's just what he did. He had copied Jason's in chemistry, much to the other boy's outrage, so he didn't have homework in that class. He was exempt from the English homework in their current unit because the class was already halfway through a book that he had never heard of. The random elective he had been thrown into, baking, never had homework. He had to figure out his math homework though. Percy, much like everyone else with sense, did not like math.

He contemplated calling Annabeth again and getting her to help him figure it out, but decided against it. Instead, he texted the guy that he sat by at lunch and in his math class that he figured was his friend now, Frank.

"Hey Frank I don't get the homework. Can you help me?"

Frank responded, "I'm studying w/ Hazel right now. Do you want to meet up with us?"

Accompanied by an address. So, Percy grabbed his backpack and headed out, texting a "sure, I'll be right there" as he went.


	5. When Piper Starts Plotting and We All Love Frazel

Piper had been staring pointedly at Jason since the trio had arrived at her house. Jason sighed, he knew there was no way to get out of this one. So. He steeled himself and said,

"Hey, Reyna? I have to tell you something."

Reyna looked at him cautiously and replied, "Okay?"

Jason took a deep breath and blurted out, "I'm gay."

Reyna just looked at him for a second and then said, "Okay."

"You don't seem surprised."

"Well, I kind of knew."

"You knew?" Jason said in disbelief.

"Jason, of course I knew. I've known you for ages. I probably knew before you did."

Jason felt a little embarrassed for having worried so much about what her reaction would be, but it was relieving that she hadn't reacted negatively.

"So, seriously, what did you have to tell me?" Reyna asked.

"How'd you know that there was more?" Jason replied.

Reyna rolled her eyes, "Because I know you, Grace. Now what else is there?"

"I kind of maybe might have a crush on Percy." 

"Well, it officially can't be said that you have bad taste. So, I'm going to assume that that's actually why Piper invited me over and that we're not going to start on our English project?" Reyna asked, shooting an accusatory look at Piper.

Piper looked at Reyna like she had just stated the most obvious fact in the world, "Duh. The matters of our friends' hearts trump homework. Honestly Reyna, priorities."

Reyna sighed, but she was biting back a grin. Jason didn't even bother hiding his smile. 

"So, how do we figure out if he's gay?" Reyna asked them, well, mostly Piper.

"I figured we'd send Leo his way." Piper replied.

Jason sat up, "Um, I might have to object to this idea."

"Oh, calm down Jason. Not to flirt with him. Leo has a weird way of getting people to admit things. Haven't you noticed?"

"So do you. Maybe I'd rather that you hit on him." Jason mumbled.

"Jason, we all know that that's a bad idea," Reyna interjected, "No matter how gay that boy may be, once Piper turns on the charm, he'll be a goner."

Piper blushed, "Shut up Reyna, that's not true."

"Anyways," Reyna continued, ignoring Piper, "I think we could send Nico in. Nico's already out. The chances that, if Percy's gay, he'll open up to someone who's already out are higher than him just telling Valdez."

"He's not going to hit on Percy?" Jason asked, suspiciously.

"Nope." Reyna clarified.

"Then I'm okay with it."

"Cool, we'll brief him tomorrow."

 

Percy arrived at an apartment building about the size of his own. When he knocked on the door, Frank answered, looking happy to see Percy, which made Percy feel a lot better.

"Hey Percy!"

"Hi Frank."

"Come on in, man. Hazel and I've set up in the TV room." 

Percy walked in and waved a hello to Hazel, who beamed up at him from where she was sitting, criss-cross on the ground with a book in her lap.

He plopped down across from Hazel and fished his math homework out of his backpack. Frank had disappeared into the kitchen where Percy suddenly heard a, "Hazel, could you help me please?"

Hazel sighed and rolled her eyes, but she was smiling fondly as she got up and hurried into the kitchen. Frank was then shooed out, blushing. Percy thought that they were adorable, but kept the thought to himself. 

Frank came over to Percy mumbling "I didn't think I could mess up spaghetti." 

He sat down next to Percy and glanced at his math homework. "Would you prefer for me to teach you how to do it or just let you copy off of mine?"

"Frank!" Hazel yelled from the kitchen, "don't let him copy!"

Frank blushed again, "Alright, I'll just teach it to you. Or try to." He paused, and then added, "Do you want to stay for dinner?"

Percy looked at him, a little surprised, but saw that it was a genuine offer. He grinned at Frank, incredibly thankful, and replied, "Yeah, Frank, I'd love to, thanks."

And it was more than a little cliche how happy he felt.


	6. When Jason Spills

Jason was nervous. Nico was going to talk to Percy today in gym. But that wasn't even the worst of his nerves. His chemistry teacher had announced that she wouldn't be in school on Friday, so she had moved their lab up to today. 

Normally Jason loved doing labs, but his lab table now included Percy, who was rather distracting as he had either recently showered or swam because his hair was wet and his shirt was sticking to him in a way that should not be legal.

A rather stuck-up girl named Drew went to fetch goggles for the table, announcing it in such a way that it was clear that that was all she would be doing and their other lab partner, Clovis, was asleep. Which left him and Percy.

Jason took a deep breath and steeled himself, then turned to Percy and instructed him to wrap the wire they'd been supplied around the magnesium. Percy nodded and got to work while Jason grabbed a test tube and a dropper and headed over to go collect the assigned amount of hydrochloric acid.

When he had finished, he went back to the lab table, where Percy was sitting, looking quite proud of his work with the magnesium, and told Percy to fill the larger beaker with water up to the marked line. Percy was humming while he did this and his voice was pretty good. Jason got so distracted by that fact that he had to physically shake his head to refocus.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked him, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, fine, just a headache." Jason lied.

"Okay," Percy replied, dubiously.

Jason then told Percy to hold the beaker still while he added the hydrochloric acid. Jason could faintly smell chlorine coming off of Percy and he was still humming and his eyes were so green and-

"Fuck," Percy hissed as Jason accidentally spilled hydrochloric acid all over his arm.

"Shit, oh shit, I am so sorry. Drew, here hold this, I'm so sorry," Jason blurted out, handing the beakers to Drew and then leading Percy over to the emergency showers.

Their teacher, Mrs. Athene, rushed over, instructing Jason to start the shower for Percy and for everyone else to remain seated and calm themselves.

"Did it get on your shirt, Mr. Jackson?" Mrs. Athene asked him.

"I- I'm not sure," Percy replied, looking terrified.

Mrs. Athene sighed, "Better safe than sorry, I'm afraid you're going to have to take it off."

Jason thought he was going to pass out. It's not like he didn't want to see Percy shirtless, he definitely did, but this was definitely not how he had imagined it. Not that he had imagined it of course.

Percy hesitated for a second and then pulled his already soaking shirt off.

Jason swallowed hard, this guy was perfect. He was long and lean and subtly muscled in the way that you could tell he was definitely a swimmer. His jeans were hanging low enough on his hips that Jason was finding it exceptionally hard not to stare.

Thankfully he was distracted by Mrs. Athene shouting, "Drew! Put your phone away!"

The girl pouted, but complied. Jason was only forced to go through several more minutes of staring pointedly at his shoes and thinking about math in order to keep from becoming publicly aroused until Mrs. Athene told him that he could turn the water off.

"Mr. Grace, if you would please escort Mr. Jackson to the nurse's office please?" Mrs. Athene said, making it quite clear that there wasn't really an option.

Jason nodded dutifully and gestured for Percy to follow him, refusing to look at him as he was dripping wet and shirtless and Jason was already having a difficult time remembering where the nurses office was just because of how close he was and the mental images from earlier which simply refused to leave his head.

Percy followed him and, from the corner of his eyes, he could tell he was blushing. He had his arms crossed as if that would hide the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt. Jason found it endearing and wanted to punch himself in the face for thinking that. 

Finally they reached the nurse's office. Jason looked at Percy just long enough to say, "I'm sorry I spilled acid on you," and then he rushed away. Feeling a little bit bad that he had left Percy to explain the situation by himself, but much more concerned with the fact that he had actually spilled acid on his crush and that it was not good how much seeing him shirtless was affecting him. 

He decided that for once in his life he was going to skip class. Just the rest of chemistry, but Jason Grace had never missed class. Even if he was sick. God, this crush was killing him.


	7. When Percy Goes to the Nurse's Office

Percy entered the nurse's office, confused and rubbing his arm. The nurse didn't even look up, just called out, "Sign in." Which Percy did.

"Alright, what's wrong?" The nurse asked, after a minute of typing something into his computer, looking surprised at the fact that Percy was soaking wet and shirtless.

"Hydrochloric acid," Percy mumbled.

"On that arm? Stop touching it. Your teacher knows, right? Right. Of course. You're still soaking from the shower. And what'd they do with your shirt?" The nurse said, seemingly talking solely to himself.

"That's a nasty burn, could've been worse of course. They must've gotten you under that shower pretty quick. That's good. Well, not good, it's still acid." He continued, smearing something on Percy's arm, which stung.

"Um, ow," Percy muttered.

"Sorry kid, it's necessary," the nurse said, then proceeding to wrap Percy's arm in an ace bandage.

"Okay, you should be good, but if it's still this painful and inflamed by Saturday or Sunday go to the hospital. Keep it clean, blah blah blah, you know the drill," he said, and then added, "I'll send a pass down for your stuff and get you a gym shirt or something. As much as the guys and gals would get a kick out of you walking around shirtless all day, it's against dress code." The nurse smiled and headed out to the main office to get someone to drop off Percy's things.

Percy all but collapsed into one of the chairs in the office. His arm hurt and he was pissed off and kind of cold and definitely wet. He wished he had a shirt and hadn't had acid spilled on him. He was confused about why Jason hasn't stayed. They had seemed to be getting along better and Jason didn't seem the type to just leave someone at the nurse's office after being the reason he had to go down there.

Percy shook it off. He'd confront him in gym or something. For now, he berated himself for being personally offended by the fact that it was Jason who ditched him at the, admittedly attractive, nurse's office. But the nurse was probably at least ten years older than him and not quite as attractive as Jason. Then again, Percy didn't really stand a chance with Jason either.

Percy entertained the idea of seeing if he could skip his English class, he wasn't really in the mood to sit around while the other kids read silently. The quiet drove him nuts. His ADHD made it nearly impossible for him to sit still and his thoughts wandered like crazy. And, as it was right after chemistry, his thoughts tended to wander towards Jason. And those thoughts tended to head down a path which could easily get him in trouble. Percy was, after all, a teenage boy.

Percy really needed to get some self-control, or this crush would kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The nurse was indeed Apollo, in case anybody was wondering. I love reading your feedback, so please leave comments!


	8. When Percy Knows That Nico Knows

Jason had eventually collected his things and headed to his second class and, after sitting through nearly an hour of math he, all too soon, had to face Percy in gym.

Jason walked tentatively into the locker room, cursing internally when he saw that Percy was spinning the combination into his lock and undoubtedly wouldn't be out until it's be too late for Jason to get changed in time. He slowly made his way to his locker and almost screamed in frustration when Percy, who still had not noticed him, pulled his shirt off.

He hurriedly busied himself with entering his combination to open his locker and stubbornly fixed his eyes on the ground as he began changing.

"Jason, hey!" He heard Percy say.

Jason cringed and then looked up, cringing internally to see that for some reason Percy had not put a shirt on yet. "Um, yeah, hey," Jason muttered back.

"You kind of left me there, man," Percy said, "But it's cool man. I'm all good. It just kind of stings a bit. It's like a rug burn. It's not too bad." He babbled on.

Jason had to use all of his willpower to not stare at Percy's chest, and, when he tore his eyes away, he saw that a part of Percy's arm was bandaged. He instantly felt guilty. That was, of course, his fault. "Sorry," he ended up saying, feeling his face heat up.

"No, no, no! Don't feel bad! That's my point, Jason. It's all okay," Percy reassured hurriedly.

"Okay," Jason replied hesitantly, feeling really, really uncomfortable due to the fact that Percy had grown quite a bit closer and that he was still shirtless and Jason was trying to get dressed himself. 

Percy suddenly seemed to become aware of their proximity and blushed, backing up and, thankfully, finally, putting his goddamn shirt on. "Alright, well... See you on the court?" Percy said, heading out into the gym.

Jason quickly changed into his gym uniform and rushed out to have his attendance noted, wanting to punch himself in the face the entire way.

 

Percy felt insanely awkward. He was pretty sure that he had entirely embarrassed himself in front of Jason. He sat in his designated spot on the gym floor, waiting for the gym teacher to mark him present, and trying to figure out what the hell he'd done wrong there. 

From the next row over, Nico di Angelo stretched over and whispered, "Hey, Jackson, what's got you looking all... Weird?"

"Weird?" Percy questioned.

"Yeah, like, well, it's almost like you're thinking," Nico replied.

"Shut up, di Angelo," Percy retorted, but he was smiling.

"Seriously though, what's wrong?" Nico asked.

"How can you tell something's wrong?"

"I can sense when gay drama has gone down," Nico said seriously.

"I- what? How'd you- what?" Percy stammered.

"Know that you're gay?" Nico filled in.

"I am not!" Percy said a bit too loudly, then quieted himself, "I mean, I'm not, you know, gay."

Nico looked at him for a second, and then smiled sadly and said, "Percy, honestly, people at this school don't care. I'm going to drop it for now, but when you're ready to actually talk about this, I'm here." Then he turned back around and left Percy to panic and wonder how the hell Nico had figured him out so quickly, and if maybe he should just come clean.

Maybe, Percy thought, he could tell Nico. But later. Definitely later. For now, he had to try not to make a fool of himself while failing to play basketball in front of his crush.


	9. When Drew Causes a Potential Problem

"I'm telling you, I think he's-" that was all Jason heard Nico say as he approached the lunch table. Nico had stopped suddenly as he approached. 

Jason raised an eyebrow at Nico, Piper, and Reyna, but didn't say anything. He knew what they were talking about anyways. "Carry on," he said.

"Carry on?" Piper hissed, "you spilled acid on him! Really Jason?"

"It was only, like, six molar and I apologized and he seemed okay and it-"

"Jason Grace, that is not the point!" Piper whisper-shouted.

Thankfully, Reyna saved him, "So, how'd he look in the shower?"

Jason turned red as an answer.

As usual, Leo had something very important to share with the table as he sat down. Only this time, it was actually a little important.

"Check out what Drew posted on instagram!" He shoved his phone in Piper's face first. 

"So, Reyna," Piper said, laughing, "to answer your question, he looked really good in the shower."

Jason blanched and grabbed Leo's phone and was horrified to see a picture of Percy standing under the emergency shower and Jason standing there, keeping the shower running and full on staring at Percy's crotch. The caption read "someone agrees that new kid is hot ;)"

"I'm going to die," Jason moaned, handing Leo his phone back and slamming his head down on the lunch table.

"Oh, stop being such a drama queen. I know you're gay, but still." Piper chided, "we can do damage control with this."

"Besides, Percy doesn't even have an Instagram. Or if he does, he doesn't follow Drew. See, she tagged you in it, but not him." Reyna showed him.

"He'll see it. Drew will show him or someone else will. He'll see it," Jason said, shaking his head despite never having had lifted it off of the table.

Reyna and Piper looked at each other in disbelief at how unreasonable Jason was being. Leo and Nico just looked at each other and tried not to laugh.

"I'm ditching history," Jason groaned.

"No you're not," Piper said, "You've never ditched a class in your life."

"I ditched half of chemistry earlier today," Jason retorted.

"Well, then you've done enough ditching today. If I have to forcibly drag you from Latin to history, so help me I will."

"Please don't."

"Too bad. Jason, it'll be fine. And you're coming to history."

Jason sighed for a ridiculous amount of time and spent the rest of lunch sulking, but he knew that he was going to have to face Percy again in history.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to those of you who have left reviews. Please keep it up because I love reading your comments.


	10. When I Wrote a Filler Chapter

Throughout the rest of the day, Percy started to notice that a lot of people were staring at him. Maybe they were starting to notice that there was a new student? But then he remembered what had happened earlier today and realized that most people were probably looking at him weird because he had been walking around shirtless and dripping wet for a while.

Regardless, he ignored everyone. He told himself didn't really care if they stared, that it didn't affect him. 

He looked at the piece of paper in his hands as he sat by Hazel, Frank, a girl named Rachel, and a guy named Grover at lunch. Hazel had given it to him once she arrived at their table and said, "Nico asked me to give it to you."

Upon further questioning, Percy had found out that Nico was Hazel's half-brother, which was how she knew him. 

Percy stared at the phone number written neatly on that piece of paper and resigned himself to the fact that he would have to talk to Nico soon. Besides, he figured if he was going to out himself to anyone at his school, Nico wouldn't be the worst person to do it to. As long as he didn't tell the swim team, which Percy had been glad to hear was starting up again next week.

He was distracted from his thoughts, however, when two boys, whom he knew to be Travis and Connor Stoll, although he still didn't know which was which, walked past and, upon seeing Percy, they burst into laughter.

Percy frowned, "What the hell?" He muttered.

Rachel shook her head, "Don't worry, this school is gossip city. It's probably a dumb rumor that'll fade away by next week."

"I just wish they would stop staring at me. I feel like a zoo animal or a goldfish," Percy replied.

"Hey, take it as a compliment, man," Grover said, "Most of these girls still won't look at me and I've been going to school with them since our days in elementary."

Somehow, that still didn't reassure Percy. The only thing that made him feel better was the knowledge that, after math, in baking they were making blueberry muffins today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize it's been awhile since my last update and that this one is pretty short, but I had some really bad writer's block for a while there. I have an endgame set up, obviously, but if there are any suggestions that you guys have before then, I'd love to hear them!


	11. When I Wrote Another Filler Chapter

True to her word, Piper was standing outside of Jason's Latin class to make sure he went to history. He rolled his eyes, "As if I were going to ditch twice in one day."

"Yeah, that'd beat your previous record of never." Piper replied, smirking.

"Shut up." Jason muttered as they walked into history.

As they sat down, Reyna raises an eyebrow at Piper.

"Little to no resistance." She reported.

Reyna nodded, "Good, or I'd have to fetch him next time."

"But you'll probably hit me!" Jason complained.

"Only if you deserve it." Piper replied, not looking nearly as concerned as Jason thought she should.

 

Percy had entirely forgotten about how everyone had been staring at him when he got out of baking. He happily carried his container of freshly baked blueberry muffins to history and sat down next to Piper and in front of Reyna, in his usual seat. He realized that the girls were looking intently at him and that Jason was staring fixedly at his desk.

"Hey Piper, hey Reyna. How's it going? Hi Jason. What's up?" Percy said. The girls seemed satisfied and relaxed, giving "good"'s in reply, but Jason just mumbled something to himself and continued looking at his desk.

"Jason, you know I told you I'm not mad about that, man. It's fine," Percy said, a little worried that the bit of progress he had made with Jason was all gone.

Jason had no clue how to respond to that as Percy had clearly not heard the news, but, thankfully, Piper saved him.

"He just has a headache. The lights are making it worse." She said.

"Oh, man, maybe you should go to the nurse if it's that bad?" Percy suggested, sounding worried.

Jason blushed a bit at the concern, but shook his head and mumbled, "S'fine."

Percy looked doubtful, but turned his attention to the front of the room where class was starting, making a mental note to text Nico and make plans with Annabeth this weekend, completely missing the I-told-you-so look that both Piper and Reyna shot Jason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's kind of a short one, but I have big plans for what happens during the weekend so the next chapter should be up within a week and should be a lot longer. Keep commenting guys! I love all of you!


	12. When Percy and Nico Text and Piper Calls a Meeting

Once Percy was home he quickly shot off a text to Annabeth confirming their plans and then texted Nico.

"Hey" came his reply a few seconds later.

"So why was I supposed to text you?"

"I told you, I can sense the gay drama. If I don't know what's going on in the gay world, I'll have my Perez Hilton gay scout badge taken away from me."

"I'm pretty sure gay scouts aren't actually a real thing"

"Sure they are. Their main purpose is to further the gay agenda by recruiting the gay youth to their cause."

"I wasn't even in regular Boy Scouts"

"Neither was I. I think Jason was though. Anyways, what's been bothering you today?"

"It's a long story"

"Let me guess. "I'm gay and I like a boy help me Nico please"? How'd I do?"

"I'm starting to dislike you"

"No you're not. You're just in awe of my psychic powers"

"Maybe a little bit. Is that a gay scout thing too?"

"Yup, I got my mind reading and hypnosis badge two years ago. Anyways, who's the lucky fella?"

"I'm not sure I'm ready to say it yet"

"Okay, I'll figure it out eventually anyways."

"Probably. But the thing is, I have no clue how to tell if the guy's gay"

"Well if you tell me who he is I could tell you. I got my gaydar badge ages ago"

"I'll think about it. And Nico? Please don't tell anyone? I'm not sure if I'm ready for people to know yet"

"Does that mean I have to cancel the order for the banner I was going to hang over your locker?"

"Yes"

"Damnit. Okay. I've gotta get going, I have a "study session" with Will. Later Jackson"

"Have fun Nico, not too much fun though"

 

Jason was working on his homework when his phone went off with a text message. "Get it in the car" Jason rolled his eyes, Piper was up to something again.

A second later he heard a car horn honk outside. He sighed and ran downstairs, outside, and up to Piper's car. Reyna smiled from the passenger seat, so Jason grudgingly got into the back. 

"What's going on?" Jason asked.

"Big news. Big, big news. We're meeting up with Nico and Leo. And Will. We need to come up with a game plan." Piper replied, speeding down Jason's street towards her house.

"Plan for what? What's the big news?"

"You'll see." Reyna said.

Jason was used to Piper and Reyna doing things like this. When Piper was first asked to homecoming freshman year, he was kidnapped too.

The normally five minute drive only took about a minute and a half thanks to Piper's ridiculous speeding. 

When they got to Piper's house, she ushered Jason in quickly. 

They went to the living room, where Leo, Nico, and Will had already gathered.

"So," Nico said, "Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so sorry that it's taken me so long to update. If that ever happens again, just hound me in the comments and I'll get at it.


	13. When Nico Tells Them

"Okay, actually," Nico interjected before Jason could choose, "it only makes sense with the good news first, so I'll just start with that."

"Nico, get to the point," Piper said.

Nico rolled his eyes, "Fine. So, he's definitely into dudes."

Piper practically squealed and hugged Jason, but Jason sat in shock.

"But what's the bad news?" Reyna asked.

"Well," Nico scratched the back of his head and looked down before saying, "he likes someone."

"That doesn't mean we have to give up though!" Leo interrupted.

Piper looked offended at the thought, "Of course we don't. We just figure out who this guy is and then prove that Jason is better."

"And what if I'm not better?" Jason asked.

"Oh honey," Piper said, "I'm sure you are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's so short, but I really hope the next chapter will be longer.


	14. When Piper Has a Question

Last night had consisted of Piper planning and Jason trying to tune it all out. Just the idea of finding out who Percy liked freaked him out. He wasn't ready for the disappointment when the last shred of hope he had would be gone.

He didn't think anyone else believed it was him either. Piper kept telling him that she was sure that Jason was better than whoever it is and Reyna kept threatening to get rid of whoever the guy was. It wasn't exactly heartening.

No matter how he felt about the whole situation, he had to see Percy at least three times today and he was going to have to just try his best to get through it. He was actually considering ditching chemistry, but Piper was at his locker when he got to school that morning.

"Hey Piper," Jason greeted her cautiously. "Hey, is something wrong?" He added on, realizing that his friend looked almost distraught.

"Okay, just hear me out, but I need a favor." Piper said, starting to guide Jason towards his chemistry class. Jason just raised an eyebrow. "Could you do musical this year? We really need more guys and right now we only have Will."

"Why me? What about Leo? He can act and stuff," Jason defended.

"Oh, Jace, that's sweet, but Leo's tone deaf and even he knows it."

"I can't sing either!"

"Really? Not even a little bit?" Piper asked, looking disappointed.

"No, well, I don't think so," Jason muttered.

"Could you think about it? I'm going to try to convince Nico. Do you think the Stoll brothers would do musical?"

"I-I don't know, Pipes. This is way out of my comfort zone," Jason replied.

"Ugh, maybe Percy can sing? Hey, if I got Percy to do musical, would you?"

"You cannot bribe me like this, Piper."

"Think about it? Please, for me?"

"Fine." Jason relented.

"Yay! Thank you so much!" Piper hugged Jason and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll owe you big time. Now go to chemistry. I've gotta go to my class, the bell's about to ring." And with that, she strode off.

Jason sighed as Piper walked away. The girl was good at getting what she wanted.

 

Percy saw Piper hug Jason through the classroom window and sighed. Why the hell hadn't he thought to consider that Jason could be dating the girl? And then she kissed him! Granted, it was on the cheek, but still. "Man, I have bad taste," Percy muttered to himself.

"What honey?" Drew asked him, her voice sweet as she batted her eyelashes at him from across the lab table.

"Nothing, sorry. Talking to myself." Percy replied, a little embarrassed.

"Well, if you ever want someone else to talk to, you know where to find me," Drew winked at him.

Percy smiled politely, not at all interested. "Thanks Drew, I'll keep that in mind."

Jason finally came over to their lab table just as the bell was about to ring. "Hi Jason," Percy said, hoping he sounded casual.

Jason looked up, seeming to have been distracted, "Hey Percy, how's it going?"

Percy didn't, however, get the chance to reply as the bell rang and their sub shushed everyone and began going over the lesson plan Mrs. Athene has left.

Considering how much he was looking forward to this weekend, today was going to go by very slowly.


	15. When Percy Falls Asleep in Chemistry and Then Texts Annabeth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's kind of short. I named all of the chapters by the way, so y'all can distinguish them better. Any comments, questions, or suggestions? Leave them in the comment section. I love hearing from you guys.

All of chemistry had been spent watching a Bill Nye video, which usually Percy would have loved, but today he was just so tired that he fell asleep right at their lab table, only to be waken up by Jason nudging him awake. "The bell's about to ring," Jason said apologetically.

(Truthfully, Jason hadn't even wanted to wake Percy up. He was kind of adorable when he was asleep, and he must have been pretty tired considering how quickly he fell asleep. But it was better to be the asshole that woke him up than the asshole that let him sleep through the bell. Wasn't it?)

Percy collected his things, still half asleep, which Jason found adorable. He didn't know it, but his hair was sticking up in a way that would've embarrassed him, but that Jason and Drew and assumably some other people found endearing.

Percy then went to his English class where everyone was starting presentations on some poem they had being reading along with that one book. Percy took his usual seat in the back and pulled out his phone, sending a text off to Annabeth as the first person waited for the bell to ring so they could start.

"I'm in school seaweed brain, what do you want?" Came Annabeth's response.

"I'm in school too Annabeth. Come on, I'm booooored. I don't know what's going on in this class. They're going to take another two weeks to finish this stupid book and now they're all quoting poetry!" Percy shot back.

"Quoting poetry?" Annabeth replied.

"Something about thorough?"

"Do you mean Thoreau?"

"I don't know, maybe?" Was all Percy could think of saying.

"I love Thoreau! I went into woods because I wished to live deliberately..." 

"How did you know that that's what they're all saying?"

"Lucky guess. It's amongst his most popular works."

"Annabeth, it's kind of weird how you know everything"

"Not everything, just most things."

"Wow, I had forgotten how modest you are."

"Oh, shut up. I'm trying to learn over here."

"Ugh, but there's still, like, a half an hour left of this class."

"Fine. But only because I love you. How's it going with Jason?"

"I think he has a girlfriend"

"What makes you think that?"

"He's friends with this girl and I saw them hug this morning"

"...and that's it?"

"She kissed him on the cheek too!"

"Percy, you're an idiot. That doesn't mean they're dating."

"It doesn't?"

"It doesn't. Man, it's a good thing you're pretty, Perce."

"Are we still on for tomorrow?"

"Of course. Wouldn't miss it for the world."


	16. The One Where Piper Tries to Convince Percy

Percy woke up on Saturday and checked his phone, surprised to find, not a text from Annabeth, which was what he had been expecting, but a text from an unknown number.

“Hi Percy! This is Piper. I was wondering if you would do me a huge favor and consider auditioning for our school’s musical this year???”

Percy, to be quite honest, was unsure of how to respond. He’d never done a musical before. The closest he had gotten was those lame recitals back in middle school, and he had hated those.

“Um, hi Piper. How did you get my number?

“I might have harassed Nico. But will you? I promise it’ll be fun. I’ll be there and so will Nico. Will and Leo might do it this year and I’m working on convincing Jason. We really need more guys.”

At the mention of Jason, Percy started actually considering it for a minute. What better way to get to know the guy? But the problem remained that Percy didn’t know what he was doing for even a second when it came to theatre. His only singing happened in the shower.

“Wouldn’t you prefer someone who at least kind of knows what they’re doing? I don’t really sing. Or act. Or dance. What even is the musical anyways?” 

“Pippin. We’re doing the revival version though.”

“I’ve never heard of it”

“It is a CLASSIC!”

“I’ve still never heard of it”

“I’m having some people over tomorrow to watch it. You could come?”

”I’ll see. No promises on auditioning though”

“Okay, I hope you do though! It’ll be a lot of fun. I promise!”

Percy had no clue what he had just maybe gotten himself into, but he didn’t really have time to think about that right now. He had to get ready to catch up with Annabeth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly just picked Pippin because my school is doing it this year. If y'all have any ideas for the casting later on, please leave it down in the comments. You can use any characters from the book series.


	17. The One Where Everyone is at the Movies

11:30 am Percy and Annabeth walked into the local movie theater and bought tickets to see Star Wars again. However, Will Solace worked at that movie theater and, upon seeing Percy laughing and seeming rather familiar with a blonde, who was not Jason, texted the group chat that Piper had set up.  
WILL: Guys, code… um, I don’t know. I just have some bad news.  
PIPER: What’s going on, Sunshine?  
NICO: Only I get to call him cute nicknames. What’s up babe?  
WILL: Percy’s at the movie theater  
JASON: Will, he’s allowed to go places  
WILL: No, I know, but he’s with a girl and now they’re holding hands.  
REYNA: What movie are they seeing? Jason, be ready in three minutes, Piper and I are on our way to your house.  
WILL: Just please don’t make a scene guys, I really don’t want to lose my job.  
REYNA: We’ll do what we have to do, Solace  
LEO: Good luck guys. And hey, if the girl that Jackson is with is hot and needs a shoulder to cry on once we steal Percy away from her, I have two that are available ;)  
WILL: Leo, I am 900% sure that this girl could kick your ass  
LEO: Hey, if that’s what she’s into  
REYNA: We’re almost there. Time for radio silence.  
LEO: Aye aye Captain

Percy, of course, had no idea any of that was going on. He was just having a nice time with his best friend.  
“So, how’s the new school?” Annabeth asked him.  
“It’s not bad. Tryouts for swim team are soon. This one girl wants me to do musical.” Percy replied, stealing a handful of the popcorn they had just bought.  
“Musical? I can see it.”  
“Really?”  
“Oh, yeah.”  
“Huh, maybe I’ll do it then. Apparently Jason might be doing it.”  
“Then definitely do it Seaweed Brain. What show is it?”  
“Pippin.”  
“Oh, okay. I’ve heard of that one.”  
“Really? I hadn’t”  
“Perce, it’s a classic Broadway show. Fosse choreographed it in the 70’s.”  
“Why do you know that?”  
“Because, Percy, there was an entire year when all I wanted was to be a choreographer because I like telling people what to do and I had been taking, like, four different types of dance lessons, so I did hardcore research on all the best choreographers in the history of Broadway and Fosse was one of them.”  
“So, if I decided to audition, would you help- oh my god.”   
“What?” Annabeth asked, concerned as Percy was suddenly trying to hide behind her.  
“HE just walked in.” Percy whispered.  
Annabeth looked towards the door. “The blond one?”  
“Yes! Now stop staring!”  
“Percy, one of the girls he’s with is glaring at me.”  
“Why are they here?”  
“I don’t know, but if these two girls don’t stop looking at me like that I’m going to have to go over there and do something because- oh. They’re coming over here.”  
“What?” Percy stopped hiding behind Annabeth, he hadn’t been doing that great of a job hiding anyways, and looked over. Sure enough, Jason was coming over, with Piper and Reyna.  
“Hey guys.” Percy said awkwardly.  
“Hi Percy!” Piper said, slightly too cheerfully, “Who’s your friend?”  
“Oh, this is Annabeth. She’s my best friend from my old school.”  
“Oh.” Piper replied, seeming a little unsure of how to respond to that.  
Percy, confused, just turned to Annabeth, “So that’s Piper, that’s Reyna, and that’s Jason,” he introduced her to everybody.  
Jason waved awkwardly and whispered something to Piper. Piper shushed him and Reyna just looked as though she was trying to keep from laughing.  
There was an awkward silence until Percy checked his watch and went “Oh, the movie’s about to start, we should get going!”  
But, before he could grab Annabeth and go find their theatre, Piper asked, “Oh, what movie are you guys seeing?” as if she hadn’t already asked Will as soon as they had entered the building.  
“Just Star Wars again,” Percy replied.  
“No way! Us too!” Piper exclaimed, either ignoring or having not noticed how much Jason looked like he wanted to kill her. “You guys should sit with us!”  
Before Percy could say anything, Annabeth interjected, “Are you kidding me? With how much Seaweed Brain talks during movies? Nah, we’ll spare you and sit where you can’t hear him drooling over the special effects.”  
Piper looked disappointed, but Jason was looking at Annabeth like she was his hero. Until Piper spoke again, “Fine, but no talking during Pippin tomorrow, okay? Musicals are sacred. You are coming, aren’t you? Jason and Reyna’ll be there too.”  
“I will?” Jason said, before he could stop himself.  
“Yes, Jace, you’ll be there. So, how about it Percy? You will be there, right?”  
Piper’s stare was so intense that Percy found himself panicking and saying, “Uh, yeah. Of course.” And then found himself being pulled away by Annabeth, who was saying, “Percy, it’s starting!”

 

Jason couldn’t believe Piper. Okay, that was an exaggeration, everything she had just done was exactly the sort of thing that Piper would do. When everyone had taken a seat and the movie had started, he found himself paying more attention to Percy and Annabeth than to Star Wars.  
“He’s got his arm around her,” he whispered to Piper.  
“Jason, I know, calm down.”  
“They’re laughing and it’s not even at the movie.”  
“How would you know, something funny could’ve just happened, you haven’t even been watching the movie.” Piper countered.  
“I’m trying to though, so if you two wouldn’t mind shutting up,” Reyna said.  
Jason stopped talking, but he kept watching Percy (except for the few times when Percy or Annabeth looked back by them, in which case he pretended to be watching the movie). At one point he saw Percy blush at something Annabeth had said and almost got up and left, but Piper grabbed his arm and made him sit back down.  
“Jason, relax. We’ll grill him about the girl tomorrow.” Piper hissed.  
“Fine. Since when is tomorrow a thing, by the way?”  
“Since I decided that it was going to be a thing. And you’re going to be there.”  
“Fine.”  
“Fine.”  
“Fine.”  
“Guys, seriously, shut up.” Reyna said.

 

“So, that’s him, huh?” Annabeth asked Percy halfway through the movie.  
Percy shushed her, but felt his face going red.  
“It so is. He’s cute, nice choice,” Annabeth continued, barely suppressing a laugh.  
“I’m going to kill you,” Percy muttered, trying to take his arm away from where it was over her shoulder, but she grabbed his wrist and wouldn’t let him move.  
“Babe, don’t be like that. You know you love me. Just not as much as you love Jason.”  
“You’re actually evil, aren’t you?”  
“I’m sorry, Seaweed Brain, but you’re just too easy to mess with. You really like him, don’t you?”  
“Yeah, I don’t even know when it happened to be honest. Probably when he spilled acid on me. He was just so flustered and-“  
“Hold up. He spilled acid on you?”   
“On accident, Annabeth.”  
“Oh wow. And you still like him? This is worse than I thought. What was that one girl saying about Pippin?”  
“Piper?”  
“Sure, yeah, what was she saying about you guys all watching Pippin tomorrow?”  
“She’s the one who’s been trying to get me to do musical, apparently a bunch of people are watching it together tomorrow.”  
“And Jason’s going to be there?”  
“I guess so.”  
“Well then you’re definitely going. And you know that really tight blue shirt you have? Wear that.”  
“But why?”  
“Because Perce, if he’s even a little bit gay, that shirt on you is going to help make that pretty clear.”  
“Why am I always the one who gets objectified in your plans?”  
“Stop whining Percy. It’s because I’m the brains and you’re the pretty one.”  
“Gee thanks.”  
“Hey, at least I said you’re pretty.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please keep leaving comments, I love to hear from all of you! If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to let me know.


	18. The One Where They Kind Of Watch Pippin

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Percy said into his phone as he looked at what Annabeth had told him to wear. It honestly wasn’t too different from what he usually wore, just a lot tighter. “I don’t think I’ve worn those jeans since freshman year.”  
“Perfect. You’ll just have to pay close attention to whoever checks out your ass.” Annabeth responded.  
“But-“ Percy began, until his phone beeped, letting him know he had a call on the other line, “Give me a second,” he said, switching over, “Hello?”  
“Hi Percy, Reyna, Jason, and I were in the neighborhood and I was wondering if you have a ride to my place?” Piper’s voice rang out. Percy could hear Jason and Reyna in the back, possibly arguing.  
“Um, you don’t know where I live though,” Percy said, confused.  
“Okay, so maybe we’re not in the neighborhood, we could be though. The point being is, do you want a ride to my place?”  
“Um, sure?”  
“Great! Just text me your address and we’ll be right over!” And with that Piper hung up.  
“Let me call you back in a second Annabeth.” Percy said, still quite confused, and then he texted Piper his address.  
After spending no less than three whole minutes getting the jeans that Annabeth had told him to wear on, he called her again.  
“What took you so long?” Annabeth asked.  
“I had to put on those freaking jeans.”  
“It took you that long? Perfect Perce. He won’t be able to resist you.”  
“They’re tight.” Percy whined.  
“That’s the point.” Annabeth replied, mocking his tone.  
“I don’t even know if I can sit in these.”  
“Well you’d best figure that out soon. You’re supposed to be there in fifteen minutes.”  
“They’re picking me up.”  
“Ooh, who initiated that?”  
“Piper called me.”  
“Okay, not what I was hoping for, but we can deal with that. Are you all ready?”  
“Um,” Percy paused to pull the shirt on, “Yes?”  
“How’s your hair?”  
“Fine?”  
“You’re hopeless. Make it all messy, that’s what made what’s-her-face from biology have a crush on you last year.”  
“Someone had a crush on me last year?” Percy asked, standing in his bathroom mirror and trying to mess up his hair in a way that didn’t make it look like he had just gotten attacked by a rabid vacuum cleaner.  
“Yes Perce, a lot of girls did, but I never told you because I knew that you had a different preference.”  
“Oh, okay. Like, how many?”  
“I didn’t keep track seaweed brain. How’s the hair coming?”  
“Well, it’s messy.” His phone beeped again, letting him know he had a text. “Shit, I think they’re here, I’ve got to go. Any last words of wisdom?”  
“Let the outfit work its’ magic. You’ve got this Perce, go get ‘em.”  
And with that, Percy hung up and went to go try to not make a fool of himself.

 

“Piper, why did you do this?” Jason said nervously from the back of Reyna’s car.  
“To get you two more alone time together, duh.” Piper replied, from the passenger’s seat.  
“What if he really is dating that blonde girl though?”  
“Then at least we know he likes blonds.” Reyna said, smirking.  
“Shhh, he’s coming!” Piper said, silencing any rebuttal Jason would have had.  
Jason looked out the window to confirm this and his jaw almost dropped. Percy was trying to tug on a sweatshirt while walking quickly out towards the car and just a sliver of his abdomen was exposed, which looked even tanner than usual against the blue shirt he was wearing. Which was, to be quite honest, far too tight to be legal. “Oh man,” he breathed.  
“You’re drooling,” Piper said, before rolling down her window and shouting, “You’re in the back with Jason!”  
Percy got in the back next to Jason, oh god, he even smelled good, and smiled, saying “Hey guys, thanks for picking me up.”  
“No problem,” Reyna said, then she turned to Piper, “Do we have to get anyone else?”  
“Nope. Back to my place,” Piper replied.

Piper’s place, Percy soon found out, was more like Piper’s palace it was so big. He tried to keep from staring but couldn’t help it.  
“Piper’s dad is an actor,” Jason muttered to Percy, “She doesn’t like to talk about it, his job makes it so he’s not around much. I guess it comes with some perks though.”  
When they walked in, Percy saw that everyone was already there. Everybody being Nico, Will, and Leo. Leo looked ecstatic to see other people there and quickly scooched away from the couple, who looked grateful to have him a little farther away.  
“Hey! Other people! Other people who won’t ignore me in favor of whispering presumably nasty but possibly romantic things to each other!” Leo greeted everybody, which earned him a glare from Nico.  
“Oh hush, they’re adorable,” Piper said, “Are Hazel and Frank not coming?” she asked.  
“Nah, they said it’s their one year and they had other plans. I did not ask for specifics.” Leo replied.  
“I appreciate that. Let’s get Pippin started. There’s no assigned seating, so just sit wherever,” Piper said, gesturing to all of the couches in her giant TV room.  
Five minutes into the musical however, Leo started talking, “You know Pipes, I never agreed to trying out.”  
“Leo, not now! They’re still singing Magic to Do!” Piper said.  
“The matters of bribery are far more important than this song!”  
“Fine, Piper huffed, pausing the musical. “Name your terms.”  
“Well, for one, don’t make me watch the musical. No one in here besides you wants to and, besides, if we do the show we’ll all be sick of it by the end regardless.”  
“People want to watch Pippin! Right guys?” Piper exclaimed defensively.  
No one said anything, except for Will, who just muttered something about Nico, who blushed.  
“Fine! What would you all rather do?” Piper asked. “No comment from either of you two,” she tacked on, pointing at Nico and Will, both of whom looked guiltily at the carpet.  
“Well,” Piper said after a minute, “we’re a group of teenagers, what else would be more cliché for us to do other than play truth or dare?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys can also follow my tumblr to request one shots or to remind me to update sooner. It's UnderTheNarnianSun


	19. The One Where They Play Truth or Dare

Nobody really had a better suggestion, so truth or dare it was. By the time it was Percy’s turn Will had been dared to jump in the outdoor pool despite it being January, Leo had been dared to eat a nasty mix of various items in Piper’s fridge (he was thankfully no longer that disturbing shade of green), and Piper had been dared to lick chocolate syrup off of Reyna’s stomach. So, when Piper turned to Percy and asked him “truth or dare?” he picked truth.  
“Lame,” Piper muttered, “Alright, are you dating that blonde girl?” she asked him.  
“Annabeth? No way man, she’s my best friend, but I could never. She’s not my, uh, type.” Percy replied.  
Piper seemed satisfied with the answer and Percy missed the look she shot Jason and Reyna.  
Percy turned to Nico, who was directly across from him. “Nico,” he said, “truth or dare?”

Jason felt entirely elated. So Percy wasn’t dating Annabeth. He dwelt on this fact for so long that he entirely missed the group discussion on what Nico’s dare should be and the four times that Will suggested that they just dare him to makeout with Will and how every time he suggested it at least one person would yell at him or throw something at him.  
Annabeth wasn’t his type. What did that mean though? Not his type as in blonde or smart or not his type as in a girl? Why couldn’t Piper have just asked him if he liked guys?  
In the back of his mind Jason heard Percy tell Leo he could pick the dare and then he suddenly found Nico in his lap.  
“Lap dance, sorry. I know I wouldn’t have been your first choice.” Then Nico had the audacity to wink, before he started going through with his dare. Before even ten seconds had gone by though, Will had literally lifted Nico off of Jason and said “You know what? I think that that’s good enough.”

 

Everyone else booed Will, but Percy was secretly relieved. Nico didn’t look the least bit bothered as he was sitting comfortably in Will’s lap now. Percy hadn’t wanted to watch Nico give Jason a lap dance any more than Will had.  
Nico, who was still in Will’s lap called out, “Jason, truth or dare?”  
Jason looked warily at Nico, “Truth,” he ended up saying, although he didn’t sound all too sure of his decision.  
“Who’s better at kissing? Guys or girls?”  
Jason turned beet red and muttered, “My stance on that should be pretty obvious.”  
“That’s not answering his question,” Piper said, teasingly.  
“Fine. Guys. Definitely guys.” Jason answered, staring down the carpet.  
Percy felt his heartrate pick up. Jason liked guys. Or at least liked kissing them. More than girls. So he was gay. Or maybe bi? Regardless, he likes boys. Jason Grace likes boys. Percy actually stood a half-decent chance. He needed to take this subtly though. Just because Jason likes guys doesn’t mean he likes him. He was definitely going to have to call Annabeth about this one. And maybe if Jason was doing musical, he just might do it too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of short, but here we are. Monday night, as promised. Feel free to message me on tumblr to request one-shots or to badger me about updating, its UnderTheNarnianSun


	20. The One Where Percy Kind of Comes Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although not graphic, there is a suicide mention in this chapter so if you're not comfortable with that, maybe don't read it. You've been warned. If it comes up in other chapters, I'll have a warning like this.

“Percy,” Will, who was now covered in makeup, said, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Percy answered again. 

“Lame, alright, who’s the last person you dated?”

Percy panicked for a second. He could, of course, totally lie and they’d be none the wiser, but it felt wrong. “Well, they went to my old school, so I don’t think you’d know them.”

“A name, dude,” Leo interjected.

“Uh, Luke.” Percy muttered.

“Sorry, Percy, I didn’t catch that?” Piper said.

Percy took a deep breath and said, “His name was Luke.”

After barely a second, Nico asked gently, “Was?”

Percy visibly stiffened before saying, “He’s dead. He killed himself about a year ago.”

Everyone was quiet for a solid minute before Piper spoke. “I’m sorry Percy.”

“Not your fault. He had some issues and I guess it just got to be too much. I, um, I think maybe I should go,” Percy said quietly.

“You don’t have to, you know that, right?” Piper said.

“Yeah, I know, it’s just that after talking about my dead ex-boyfriend I’m not really in the mood to hang out anymore. It’s not you guys, don’t worry.” Percy said, standing up, “Reyna, can you drive me home?” She nodded, standing up to follow him.

“Will you be okay?” Jason asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.” Percy replied.

“Text one of us if you need someone, okay?” Piper called out.

“Will do,” Percy called back, already at the door, but no one was quite sure if he would.

As soon as he and Reyna had left and the door had closed, Leo turned to Jason, “Man, Grace, you can really pick ‘em.”

Jason’s eyes didn’t leave the door as he muttered, “Shut up, Leo.”

 

The car ride with Reyna was short and it wasn’t nearly as awkward as Percy imagined it could have been. She seemed to get that Percy didn’t really want to talk about it, so she didn’t ask.

As soon as he got inside, he went to his room and called Annabeth.

“Hey Perce, what’s up?”

“Annabeth, I-“ but he couldn’t finish his sentence because for the first time in months, Percy was crying over Luke again.

“Hey, hey, hey, Percy what’s wrong? Just breathe and talk to me.” Annabeth said, concern evident in her voice.

Percy took a deep breath, “Sorry, I just, Luke came up.” He stated simply, knowing that that would explain it.

There was no response from Annabeth for a few seconds and then she just said, “How’d he come up?”

“Leo didn’t want to watch Pippin and so we started playing truth or dare and it was okay at first but then Will asked me who the last person I dated was and I said his name was Luke and Nico questioned why I said ‘was’ and I told them that he was- that he’s dead because,” Percy cringed as a sob broke up his sentence, “Because he killed himself and then I just had to get out of there.

“Percy? Listen to me, okay? Just breathe. Try to calm down. It’s alright. I know it was awful, but it was, what? Almost a year ago. We all have to move on. You too. I know you loved him, I did too, but he wouldn’t have wanted for you to still be crying over him. He doesn’t deserve to have you crying over him still. Not after how he treated us towards the end, no matter how depressed he was.”

“I know, it’s just that I still miss him sometimes.”

“I know, Perce. He was one of my best friends. I still miss him too. But you can’t let what happened keep you from forging new connections. How’d they seem to react to it?”

“Like everyone else. They were quiet and then they were sorry. Why does everyone do that?”

“Because they don’t know what else to do, Perce. I know it feels wrong to admit it since he’s gone, but Luke wasn’t that great all the time, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Do you? Because you deserve to move on from all that he put you through. You were miserable in the end and you know it. Maybe there was a Luke that you loved once, but he was long gone by the time that he killed himself.”

“I just still feel like-“

“Don’t you dare Perseus Jackson. As much as you might hate to hear it, there was nothing you could have done that could have changed anything.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Do you need me to drive out there?”

“No, I’ll be alright.”

“You’ll be more than alright, seaweed brain. Now forget about Luke and let yourself be happy. Remember Jason? Do we still like him?”

Percy smiled despite the tears that were just now slowing, “Yeah, and thanks to truth or dare I found out he likes guys.”

“Good. You’ll have him before the musical’s over, I can feel it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who's reading! I have a tumblr where you can request one-shots and also message me to update, it's UnderTheNarnianSun. Please comment so I know you guys don't hate me for the Luke thing


	21. Where We Hear Jason's Traumatic Back Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of Luke's suicide (though very vague) are also in this chapter as well as some mentions of child abuse and alcoholism. Don't read this chapter if you think you'll be triggered

Not even fifteen minutes after Percy and Annabeth had finished talking, Percy got a text from Jason.

Jason: Hey, you alright?

Percy: Yeah, I’ll be fine. Sorry about all of that.

Jason: It’s okay, don’t worry about it. Do you need someone to talk to?

Percy: Are you sure?

Jason: I can handle it. Trust me.

Percy: It’s kind of dumb. It’s been like a year and Luke wasn’t that great to us towards the end. He made me and all of his friends feel like it was our fault, that he was depressed because we weren’t good enough. And then one day, after a few months of him treating us like shit he just didn’t come to school and he texted me saying just “Goodbye.” and after that he wouldn’t respond to my texts and I freaked out and left school early and went to his house, but I was too late. He was already dead.

Jason: I’m sorry you had to go through that.

Percy: Yeah, his mom had found him a few minutes before I got there. That woman hasn’t been the same since. Luke was all she had left, his dad was kind of flaky. She was really torn apart when he didn’t even show up at the funeral.

Jason: Wow

Percy: Yeah, man, sorry to lay out my traumatic back story like that to you. You didn’t need that.

Jason: Would it make you feel better if I told you I have a dramatic backstory too?

Percy: You do?

Jason: More people do than you’d think.

Percy: Want to share yours?

Jason: I mean, if you’re sure you’re willing to hear it.

Percy: As long as you’re comfortable telling me.

Jason: Okay, here it goes, so my mom has always been a crazy alcoholic and my dad’s kind of been not the best for years. When my older sister, Thalia was born, my dad disappeared for a couple of years and my mom will rant on about how she’s sure he was sleeping around with other women during that time. About four years after Thalia was born, my dad came back. They were back together for a couple of months until my mom told him she was pregnant with me and he ditched again. When I was born, my mom started drinking again. She tried leaving me at a forest preserve once, but my sister wouldn’t let her. She was convinced that I was the reason that my dad left again. Until I got bigger than her a couple of years ago she’d get a little violent when she was drunk, but my sister and I turned out alright. We survive off of child support and a little extra that dad’ll send every month and if my mom gets unmanageable I have some half-siblings who are legally adults that I’ve made contact with that’ll let me crash at their place. I think my dad feels guilty about having left us, but apparently that isn’t enough to get him to visit. So yeah, that’s me.

Percy: Wow. Your mom sucks.

Jason: Just a bit. It’s okay though. It’s only a year and a half more until I’m in college and I’m pretty likely to get a full ride in California, far away from here.

Percy: Your mom doesn’t hit you anymore, does she?

Jason: Not usually, she stopped doing it as often once I passed six feet. So now it’s only when she’s really bad.

Percy: You could probably crash at my place sometime, if you need to. My mom and Paul wouldn’t mind.

Jason: Thanks Percy, I appreciate it. And I’m always here if you need someone to talk to.

Percy: Thanks Jason.

And for some reason, knowing that Jason wasn’t quite as perfect as he seemed, knowing that he had been through his own shit, and knowing that Jason actually cared and offered to be there for him, made Percy feel a little bit better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to those of you who're reading! I appreciate comments so much, so a special thanks to those of you who have commented and those of you who will comment! My tumblr is UnderTheNarnianSun if you want to message me there


	22. The One Where They Talk About Auditions

School the next week wasn’t nearly as awkward as Percy feared it might be. Everyone treated him as though nothing had happened. Jason was friendlier towards him if anything, but considering how unfriendly he had been when Percy had first met him, that wasn’t that great of an accomplishment. 

Piper successfully talked everyone into auditioning for musical, with the exceptions of Reyna and Will, who were already asked to co-stage manage. 

One day after school, Piper decided she would help Percy prep for Saturday’s auditions. “So here’re the songs that the guys can use for auditions. What vocal part do you sing?”

“Um, I don’t know.”

Piper sighed, “Okay, well, here, try singing Corner of the Sky.” She said, walking over to the piano in the practice room she had snagged for them. “I’ll play the notes for you, just try to sing it.”

She started playing the piano and Percy fumbled to start singing. “Rivers belong where they can ramble. Eagles belong where they can fly. I’ve got to be, where my spirit can run free. Gotta find my corner of the sky.”

When he finished, he looked at Piper questioningly, “How was that?”

She was smiling, “We can definitely work with this.”

“So I’m not bad?”

“Bad? No. Not bad at all. Flip the page. Let’s keep going.”

And so Percy kept singing, “Every man his daydreams. Every man has his goal. People like the way dreams have of sticking to the soul…”

 

Auditions hadn’t been too tough, at least Percy hadn’t thought so. All the practicing with Piper had really helped. Everyone had sung a song or two from the show and then read excerpts from the script. Percy, as well as the other guys had had to read a few times, as the amount of guys there outnumbered the girls. Then they had danced. Percy wasn’t the best dancer out there, for sure, but he thought he had picked it up alright. Everyone else had done really well too, especially Jason. Percy hadn’t known that the guy could sing like that. And him dancing? Wow.

Everyone was just waiting for the director, Mr. D, to send out the cast list, which had been promised by Monday morning.

Percy got a text from Jason. “Is Piper annoying you too?”

“No?”

“Well that’s just not fair. She’s been texting me all day.”

“Has she really?”

“Yes, she’s like ‘it’s Sunday night, that means it has to come out tonight, otherwise he lied, but what if I sends and I don’t get it, what if I don’t get a part blah blah blah’. It’s rough.”

“Maybe he won’t send it until the last minute.”

“That might literally kill Piper, but that does sound like Mr. D.”

“Does it? Shit. I kind of want to know too.”

“Yeah, apparently last year he sent out the cast list at 11:59, just so he could literally send it at the last minute.”

“Why bother?”

“He’s a cruel man.”

“Clearly.”

“You did really well by the way.”

“Really? I thought you were much better.”

“I don’t know if I’d say that. You really were good though.”

“Thanks. I’m glad I auditioned. This might actually be kind of fun.”

“Well, Piper insists it will be, but considering how much she complained last year, I have my doubts.”

“It can’t be that bad. At least we’ll all be in it together. People don’t get cut, do they?”

“None of us will be, don’t worry.”

“Jason. He sent it. It is definitely not 11:59, but he sent it.”

“Oh my god, he did.”

“I can’t look.”

“Me neither.”

“Just kidding, yes I can.”

“Alright, I’m going to look too.”

Percy opened the e-mail and found his name. “Are you kidding me?” He whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've had some personal issues I've been dealing with. Feel free to message me on tumblr to tell me to update faster at UnderTheNarnianSun


	23. The One Where They Get the Cast List

The actual e-mail containing the cast list read as follows

Hello Pippin cast!  
There were a lot of talented people at the auditions, this was not an easy show to cast.   
I’ve attached the cast list here. Our first read-through will be Tuesday night 6-8. Show up or your understudy will be very happy.

The cast list read:

The Leading Players- Piper McClean and Jason Grace   
Pippin- Percy Jackson   
Fastrada- Drew Tanaka   
Charles- Frank Zhang   
Lewis- Leo Valdez   
Catherine- Hazel Levesque   
Berthe- Clarisse La Rue   
Theo- Nico di Angelo

And then went on to differentiate between featured dancers and ensemble members.

Percy got a text from Jason. 

“Wow.”

Followed by another one.

“Nico’s going to be pissed.”

Percy texted back, “Wait, why? Who’s Theo?” He almost wished they had ended up watching the show now.

“Well, a child for one thing. Catherine’s son.”

“So he’s playing his half-sister’s son?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s hilarious. He’ll hate it.”

“Piper’s excited though.”

“Aren’t you too?”

“Of course. And, hey, you didn’t do too badly either.”

“I guess not, yeah. He’s pretty serious about going to our first read-through though, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, and I don’t think he’s joking.”

“I don’t either.”

“Piper just told me her mom was asked to do costumes, so get ready for the least matte cast ever to happen.”

Percy figured that since he was after all Pippin in Pippin, he should probably try to figure out what the show was about, so he googled it.

“The circus-inspired production of Pippin features an acrobatic troupe of performers, led by the charismatic Leading Player. The ensemble cast tells the story of Pippin, a young prince who longs to find passion and adventure in his life. To prove his loyalty to his distracted father, King Charles, Pippin goes to war. But when the Leading Player convinces the prince to fight tyranny, Pippin kills Charles and takes over the throne. Realizing his mistake, Pippin begs the Leading Player to bring his father back to life, and she obliges. The prince falls in love with Catherine, a widow with a young son, and (much to the Leading Player’s chagrin), Pippin struggles to decide whether he should settle down and pursue a peaceful life or continue to make magic with the dazzling troupe of performers.”

So he had to pretend to fall in love with Hazel? She was pretty and all, but not really Percy’s type. Then again, it’s not like any high school would put on a show that would allow Percy to have a love interest that was more his type.

 

“Piper, how are there two Leading Players?” Jason texted.

“There just are Jason, we’ll probably split the lines and have to learn harmonies.”

“Does Hazel get to kiss Percy?”

“Yes, Jason, but it’s just a stage kiss, it doesn’t even count.”

“But I don’t want Hazel to kiss Percy.”

“Stop whining.”

“I want to kiss Percy.”

“Jason, I will screenshot this and send it to him if you don’t stop whining.”

“I’m not whining!”

“Good.”

“You’re evil.”

“I know. I’m so excited for our read-through though!”

Just then, Jason got a text from Nico.

“What. The. Fuck.”

“Language, Nico.”

“I play an actual child, Jason. And my younger sister is playing my mom.”

“You get to solo in the end though.”

“I don’t care about soloing in the end, Jason! I’m playing a child!”

“You get a pet duck.”

“The duck dies!”

“I’ve got nothing.”

The only response Jason got from Nico to that was a frowning emoji.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I updated, like, three days ago, but this chapter kind of happened and I didn't see any point in making you guys wait too long. Updates will not remain this frequent though. It's just because I'm on spring break. Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate it and, as always, my tumblr is UnderTheNarnianSun if anyone ever wants to message me there.


	24. The One Where They Go To Their Run Through

Tuesday night at six o’clock the entire cast had gathered in their school’s auditorium. Mr. D and some woman who Percy didn’t know were waiting for everyone to settle down. When they did, they started passing out scripts. 

“Greetings cast,” Mr. D said, “I’m glad to see all of you heeded my warning and have made an appearance tonight. Before we begin, Ms. Terpsichore and I will introduce ourselves. I am Mr. D. I will be in charge of the acting portion of this production, but if I have a comment on anything else, it will be heeded. Ms. Terpsichore?”

The woman stepped forward, she was pretty, maybe in her late twenties and built like a dancer. “Hi, I’m Ms. Terpsichore, but you can all call me Ms. T. I’ll be in charge of choreography and I’ll also be teaching you the music. We’ve got a lot of work to do with this show, but I’m hoping that we can still have a lot of fun with it.”

On that note, they started the read through. Percy was a little overwhelmed by how many lines he had, especially since this was his first show. He was also amazed at how well Piper and Jason worked together, they seemed like two halves of one coin, Piper being assigned the more serious, borderline bitchy lines and Jason being assigned the flirty, encouraging lines. The way it was split up characterized them as separate parts of one entity. 

Percy felt his face heat up as he realized that he was going to have to dance out an “orgy” with several girls, who, although pretty, were still girls. Nico smirked at Percy from where he sat and Percy subtlety flipped him off when they read over that part, especially as Jason read “Boy, when you frolic, you really frolic, don’t you? Although, that did look like fun, what you were doing.” 

When their run through finally ended, Mr. D announced that they would begin costuming soon and that Piper’s mother had graciously volunteered to help with that, so everyone would be nice to her. He also passed out calendars with the rest of their rehearsal dates. One, about a month and a half away was marked “off book”. That made Percy very nervous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry I took a big break. That wasn't intentional, a lot of things just got in the way. I'll try to be way more consistent over summer break. As always, feel free to contact me via tumblr at underthenarniansun.tumblr.com


	25. The One Where Percy Has a Swim Meet

About a week into the musical, Percy had his first swim meet, with the team he had joined a few weeks ago. He was filled with nervous anticipation, but he was ready.

As both teams stretched and warmed up, Percy happened to glance at the volunteer timers, and saw Jason. He pulled himself out of the pool and walked over.

"Jason! Hey! You didn't tell me you were timing for the meet," he said, as he approached.

Jason seemed startled at the sight of Percy, turning red, but Percy chalked that up to how humid the pool area was. "Oh, um, yeah, I signed up last minute. I heard on the announcements today that they still needed people, so here I am."

Percy beamed at him, "Well I'm glad you're here, even if it's not technically to cheer me on," he teased.

Jason felt his face heat up even more, "Well, it's not like you told any of us. I will cheer for you though." Jason added, hoping that maybe Percy would just get back in the water because he was all wet and dripping and that damned swimsuit really did not leave much to the imagination at all and it was starting to get to him. 

By some miracle, a whistle blew and Percy looked over and seeing his coach, turned back to Jason and said apologetically, "Sorry, got to go, I'll talk to you after the meet though, alright?"

And then he walked away, and Jason tried really, really hard not to watch. At least not too obviously. 

 

Percy won all three races he competed in and their school won. Jason equally hated and appreciated his victory dance. 

Jason sat on the bleachers after the meet and waited for Percy to emerge from the locker room, grateful that he would finally be in real clothes and not that godforsaken swim suit.

A few minutes later, Percy practically bound out of the locker room. "Jason! We won!" he shouted, upon seeing him.

Jason laughed, standing up as Percy approached him, "I saw. Congrats, Perce!"

Percy whooped and hugged Jason, for maybe a second longer than he should have, then he re-commenced his victory dance, which involved just a little to much pelvic thrusting for Jason to watch without his pants starting to feel a little too tight to be comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I took so long to update. My only excuse is that time is perceived differently for everyone because it's a fluid concept. My tumblr, as always, is UnderTheNarnianSun. Sidenote: I know that being in a musical and participating in a sport is unrealistic, but can you honestly imagine Percy not being on the swim team?


	26. The One Where Percy Tells His Mom

Percy really didn't want to do this, but after he had accidentally admitted to Annabeth that it bothered him that his mom didn't know that he was gay, she presented him with the obvious solution. He should come out to her. 

Percy had almost immediately said that that was a terrible idea, but after a while of Annabeth pointing out that his mother was a very kind and accepting woman who would love Percy no matter what, he had conceded. 

Which was how he had found himself here, outside his mom's study. He took a deep breath and looked at his phone, still showing Annabeth's text of "don't chicken out. You've got this"

He took another deep breath and then opened the door. 

"Hey, mom?" He called quietly. 

Sally Jackson looked up from where she was writing, smiling when she saw her son. "Hey Perce. What's going on?"

"I have something I need to talk to you about." He said quickly, before he could change his mind. 

Sally looked concerned at her son's serious tone. She turned her chair to face him. "Is everything alright? You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, I'm fine. I just need to tell you something." Percy reassured her. 

"Well, go ahead, honey." Sally replied, gesturing towards the spare chair in her office. Percy gladly sat down, realizing as he did so just how badly his legs had been shaking. He looked down at his hands and just blurted it all out. 

"So, this is something I've known for a while and I've never quite known how to tell you but it's really important to me that you know because it's a huge part of me and I just hope that you don't hate me when I tell you that I... like boys. I'm gay, mom." He took a deep breath and looked up to see his mom smiling. 

"Mom?" He said, shocked at her reaction. 

"Oh honey, I already knew that. Of course I still love you." She told him. 

"You knew?" Percy asked. 

"Of course. You would come home from preschool all the time telling me what boy you wanted to marry that day. And you've never talked about girls. And, well, Luke."

"You knew about me and Luke?"

"Honey, I'm your mother. Of course I knew."

"Oh."

"Now, I'm thinking of making pizza for dinner, how does that sound?"

"It sounds great mom."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So it's been like six months since I've updated but senior year is winding down so I might actually finish this by the time summer is over? Shout out to Broken_as_shattered_glass who threatened to hurt me if I didn't update and you know what? Apparently I respond well to threats. As always, my Tumblr is underthenarniansun, feel free to message me there!


	27. The One Where They Get Their Costumes

"Hello boys!" Piper's mother called as Percy and Jason entered the green room. 

"Hi Aphrodite!" Jason said warmly. 

"Um, hi," Percy said awkwardly. 

"So, I have a few options for you two, unfortunately the locker rooms are locked so you'll have to change out here. I won't look though, don't worry."

"Alright." Jason said, heading over to look at the rack of clothes Aphrodite was pointing at. 

"So, this ensemble is Piper's favorite for the Leading Players, so I suppose we'll have you try it on first and if we like it, we won't even bother with the others." Aphrodite said, handing Jason a few hangers of mostly black clothes. "Now for you," she continued, turning to Percy, "I want to try this," she handed Percy two hangers, holding black pants and a white shirt. 

Percy took the hangers and turned to see that Jason was already shirtless. He froze for a second, shocked, but not displeased. He allowed himself half a second to admire Jason's form before turning and removing his shirt as well. 

He glanced back to make sure that Piper's mother was keeping her promise and, in fact, not looking at them. She was busily perusing the costume rack, every once in a while removing something and looking at it, then writing something down on the notepad she had. 

As he removed his pants and nearly fell over trying to get them off entirely, he noticed Jason glancing at him and assumed it was because he had basically fallen down. He blushed and quickly straightened up. 

He then looked closely at what he was supposed to be putting on. 

"Um, Miss Aphrodite?"

"Yes dear?"

"Why does my shirt have Velcro?"

"For when they tear your shirt off honey."

"They do that?" Percy asked incredulously. From the corner of his eye he had seen Jason's head shoot up. 

"That's what I have in my notes. Twice actually. We'll have to practice that today, of course, to make sure the Velcro isn't too strong."

"Practice?" Percy asked, feeling very uncomfortable all the sudden. 

"Oh, not with me honey, don't worry. Jason can try ripping it off you." Aphrodite responded, holding up a very sparkly red dress. "What do you think about this for Drew?"

"Yeah, great." Percy said, shooting a nervous look at Jason, who was now wearing some sinfully tight black pants and an unbuttoned white dress shirt. Percy, upon seeing this, remembered for the seven hundredth time why he was gay. 

Percy blushed and quickly looked back at his costume. His pants were black and made of a stretchy material. He pulled them on with some difficulty, they were, after all, very tight. He then pulled on the white shirt, lining up the Velcro so that it was held closed. When he was done he looked over at Jason. 

Jason had buttoned up his shirt and added a black jacket that made him look like the ring leader of a circus, but he somehow pulled it off. He looked really really good. Percy felt underdressed in comparison. 

Aphrodite glanced up from a mess of tulle, "ah, you're both done! Let's see!"

Both boys stepped forward awkwardly. Aphrodite walked around them tutting. "Yes, I think these will both do." She wrote something down on her notepad, then turned back to them. "Now, let's see about that Velcro. Let me look at my notes... okay, Jason, stand behind Percy," Percy missed the wink Aphrodite shot Jason, "and just reach around him and rip the shirt open. Don't pull too hard though, it shouldn't take much effort." she instructed. 

Jason did as he was told, grateful to be behind Percy so the other boy couldn't see him blushing at Aphrodite's wink. He reached around Percy and got a hold of his shirt and then carefully ripped it open. The Velcro gave fairly easily and Jason quickly stepped back, more than a little disturbed by how intimate he found that moment. 

Percy turned around to adjust his shirt and they caught each other's eyes. They both froze for a moment, looking at each other until the moment was broken by Aphrodite going, "Perfect! I won't have to adjust a thing! That leaves me much more time to deal with the ensemble's costumes! Great! Alright boys, you can get back in your street clothes. I'll take care of your costumes."

The boys hurriedly looked away from each other, neither knowing that the other's heart rate had picked up in the same way. They rushed to get back into their clothes and when Percy finished first he ran out with a simple "later Jason. Goodbye Aphrodite", leaving Jason with an uneasy feeling. He had to tell Piper and Reyna.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my sister reads this fic and she yelled at me to update again after the last chapter so here we are. This sort of frequency will likely not remain consistent, sorry. As always, my Tumblr is underthenarniansun if you want to message me there! Thanks for reading!


	28. The Filler Chapter

"And then Piper's mom made me rip off his shirt!" Jason complained into his phone. 

He heard Piper and Reyna both laugh, a common occurrence during their three-way calls. 

"Come on Jace, it's not like you hated it." Piper said. 

"Well no, but it definitely wasn't the type of situation I'd pictured myself in when I- shit. I don't picture myself undressing Percy, I swear."

"Okay hun, whatever you want to believe." Piper's voice rang out again, then she and Reyna dissolved into laughter again. 

"Stop," Jason whined, "Also, Piper, have you told your mom that I like Percy? Because she was definitely giving me vibes that she knew."

"I've told her zilcho. She's just very perceptive."

"If you say so, Pipes." Jason said, skeptical. 

"So, we need a game plan." Piper said. 

"We do?" Jason asked. 

"Of course, and thankfully for you, Piper and I have already thought of everything." Reyna said. 

"Oh great. That's not worrying at all." Jason replied, not lacking any sarcasm.

"Oh shut up. We're the best. You'll have Percy totally in love with you by tech week, if not sooner." Reyna said. 

"So what's your plan?" Jason asked. 

"Easy. We increase the sexual tension between you two until he can't bear it anymore. And it starts," Piper said, "with another party."

 

Percy woke up to his phone buzzing, signaling he had gotten a text. He rubbed his eyes and reached over to his nightstand and grabbed his phone, on which he saw a text from Piper. 

"Hey Percy! Just wanted to let you know I'm having a party this weekend! It won't be too many people, but it should still be fun! You should come! Saturday at 6 at my house!"

Percy sat in his bed for a minute, a little surprised he had been invited back to Piper's house after the disaster that had occurred last time, but he decided that he actually wanted to go. So, he texted back a quick "Sounds like fun, I'll be there!"

He just had to get through two more rehearsals and then it'd be the weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. I know this chapter is super short, but the next one will include a whole party and will hopefully be longer. Anywho, as always my tumblr is underthenarniansun, feel free to message me there!


	29. The One Where Jason's Dark Backstory Becomes Relevant Again

The screen door slammed behind Jason as he ran out of his house. He could feel the familiar ache of bruises starting to form. 

For the first time in over a year, his mother had stumbled home drunk and decided to take her anger out on Jason. 

He had felt like a child again, frozen in fear, unable to yell back or try to stop her. He had just stood in their family room and taken it as his mother screamed and hit him again and again. 

When she had finally eased up, he went into his room, trying to ignore her shrill voice. He quickly packed some clothes and other necessities into his school bag and then took off, out of the house. 

He was half a block away now and he could still hear his mother swearing at him from the doorway. He hoped she would give up or pass out before a neighbor called the police with a noise complaint. 

He checked his phone, it was nearly 2 am. Turning a corner, he texted Piper. "Hey, pipes, are you still awake? I need a place to crash tonight." 

Within thirty seconds, she was calling him. 

"What the hell happened? Are you okay?" Piper's concerned voice rang. 

"Yeah, I'll be fine, just a bit beat up. Is it okay if I crash at your place for a bit?" 

"Shit, yeah, of course. I don't know how long you can stay though. My dad's coming back into town tomorrow night and he might not like you staying with us. You know how he is with boys. I can help you find a place after tonight though."

"Okay. Thanks so much, Pipes. I'm about a half an hour walk out from your house, so I'll be there around 2:30."

"You're an idiot. What street are you on? I'll come get you."

"I'm at Vine and Maple." 

"I'll be there in a few. And Jace?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, idiot."

"Love you too Pipes."

Within five minutes, Piper pulled up to the street that Jason was on and Jason slid into the passenger seat of her car. 

"You look like shit." Piper told him. 

"Thanks." 

"You know what I mean. Did she get you in the face?"

"Yeah. How bad is it?"

"Pretty fucking bad, Jace. You need to get out of there. For good. You can't just keep running away and couch hopping everytime she hurts you."

"I'm not eighteen yet. There's not much I can do."

Piper groaned. "I hate America sometimes. You could emancipate yourself?"

"I've looked into it. It takes years and most of the time they say no, no matter how much proof you have and how self-sufficient you could be. They want to keep kids with their parents."

"That's such bullshit."

"Yeah, just a bit."

"Well, we'll find you somewhere safe for now and deal with your mom later."

"Sounds like a plan."

 

Piper set Jason up in a guest room for the night. It was a familiar room. When he was younger he would camp out there once a month if not more. 

"Thanks Pipes. Goodnight." He said as Piper left him to go to bed. He knew that no matter how many times he thanked her, he would never be able to truly express the gratitude he had for her, for always giving him a way to get away when he needed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. So, I know it's been way too long since I've updated and I'm sorry about that. I also apologize for lying to you about this chapter being the party. It super isn't. But hopefully you like it anyways? Anyways, my tumblr is underthenarniansun if you want to follow me there! I'm always taking prompts for one-shots.


	30. Chapter 30: Wow, 30 Chapters Is A Lot

When Jason and Piper reached school, Percy was standing at Jason’s locker. 

“Hey, are you okay?” he greeted Jason, looking concerned. 

“Um, yeah?” Jason answered lamely, knowing he looked pretty beaten up. 

“So, you need a place to stay?” Percy asked. 

Jason raised an eyebrow, “How-“

“Piper texted me at like 3AM.” Percy explained. “I told you you could camp out at my house if you ever needed to, dude. My mom said you can come over after school today and stay as long as you need to.”

Jason was a little stunned. He hadn’t really expected Percy’s statement to have been anything more than a throwaway, but Percy looked dead serious. 

“Are you sure?” Jason asked. 

Percy rolled his eyes, “Dude, of course.” He replied. 

And so it was set. Jason was going to live with Percy until it was safe for him to return home. 

 

After school, Jason and Percy met up back at Jason’s locker. Then they went to Percy’s bus together. 

“Who’s this one? He’s not usually on.” The bus driver said as they boarded. 

“It’s okay, Pete. He’s with me.” Percy said, continuing to bear the back of the bus and sitting down. It was pretty crowded, so Jason sat next to him in the same seat. 

It was a short ride. Ten or fifteen minutes at the most. Then, both the boys were getting off the bus and heading down a street that Jason recognized from when he, Piper, and Reyna had picked Percy up. 

They approached a house with a blue door and Percy fumbled with some keys. 

“I always forget which one- ah, this one!” He said, singling out one key and unlocking the door. 

He walked into his house, Jason following. 

“Mom! I’m home! Jason’s here too!” Percy called out. 

“Okay, Perc! I’ll be down in a minute! There’s cookies in the kitchen!” A voice called back from somewhere upstairs. 

“Come on.” Percy said, leading Jason to his kitchen where there was a plate of cookies that were blue. 

“Why are they blue?” Jason asked, cautiously grabbing one and examining it. 

“When my mom was still with one of her exes, Smelly Gabe, he once said that there was no such thing as blue food, so my mom and I started to make as many foods as possible blue.” Percy explained, taking a bite. 

Jason shrugged, “Alright.” And took a bite of the cookie, which was still warm. 

“This is really good, man.” He said. 

“Why, thank you!” A woman who Jason could only assume was Percy’s mother said, entering the room and grabbing a cookie for herself. 

“Hello Mrs. Jackson.” Jason said. 

“Oh, please, call me Sally. How’re you doing, honey? Will you need a toothbrush? Or clothes? I’m sure you could borrow some of Percy’s although they may be a bit short on you. Are you okay sleeping in Percy’s room or would you prefer if i made up the couch?”

“Mom, you’re over-mothering. Jason will be fine in my room and I’ll lend him whatever clothes he needs.” Percy cut her off. 

“Okay. I’d better get back to writing then. Love you, Perce. Nice to meet you, Jason.” Sally said, kissing Percy on the forehead and grabbing another cookie. 

“What’s she writing?” Jason asked. 

“She writes novels. She’s working on a few right now.” Percy replied, “You are cool with sleeping in my room, right? Because it’s cool if you’re not, but you should let me know so I can set up the couch and-“

“Percy, it’s fine.” Jason interrupted. 

“Oh, okay. Cool. I guess we should go to my room? We have Netflix and I don’t have a tv in my room but we can watch on my laptop?”

“Sounds good to me, dude.” Jason said. 

“Great. Let’s go then.” 

“Lead the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to Swimmerkoko8014 and LiaPond22 for leaving me comments on the last chapter! Can you believe I’ve written 30 chapters of this story? Wow. That’s a lot. Anyways, my tumblr is underthenarniansun and I’m always taking requests there! Thank you for sticking with me this long!


End file.
